


And There Was Only One Bed.

by AmeKinoko



Category: Disco Elysium (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, no spoilers i'm p sure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-01-10
Packaged: 2021-02-25 14:40:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22193926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmeKinoko/pseuds/AmeKinoko
Summary: Kim invites Harry to share his room at the Whirling.
Relationships: Harry Du Bois/Kim Kitsuragi
Comments: 10
Kudos: 234





	And There Was Only One Bed.

COMPOSURE — Keep it together, Harry. You just kissed your partner. Don’t let him see how badly you want to do it again.

PERCEPTION [Easy: Success] — He smelled like lemon soap. 

INLAND EMPIRE [Medium: Success] — Without a single trace of apricot.

KIM KITSURAGI — He pauses for a second before going inside and looks back at you. “You can stay in my room tonight. If you want.” 

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Trivial: Success] — Now *that’s* what I’m talkin’ about!

SUGGESTION [Medium: Success] — It’s not an offer of sex, and you’d better not take it that way. But it is the offer of companionship, a bed that isn’t a half-hour’s walk away.

INLAND EMPIRE [Challenging: Success] — ... a warm body to lie next to, and a heartbeat to synchronize your own with. How long has it been, Harry? Of course you want to. You *need* to.

YOU — “Yeah. Yeah, I want to.”

… 

PERCEPTION — The lieutenant’s room at the Whirling is much smaller than your own—and much tidier.

KIM KITSURAGI — “I’m going to shower. Make yourself at home.” 

PERCEPTION [Trivial: Success] — You hear the showerhead sputter to life. Hey, when was the last time you took a shower?

YOU — Yesterday? ...The day before that?

PERCEPTION — Well, you should probably take another soon.

YOU — Is it that bad?

PERCEPTION — OH yeah. One bath definitely wasn’t enough to get rid of the corpse stink. Running around Martinaise all day every day isn’t helping either.

VOLITION — A shower won’t just wash away the smell; it can help you relax. Wash away the thoughts.

ESPIRIT DE CORPS [Formidable: Success] — Lieutenant Kim Kitsuragi closes his eyes and lets the hot water wash over him. He is actively not thinking about the case. 

YOU — Ok, I’ll take a shower. Fine.

EMPATHY [Easy: Success] — Kim will thank you for it. As will his bedsheets.

YOU — Your eyes scan the room as you wait. They land on a writing desk that’s been crammed against one of the walls. On top of it lies a single leather-bound notebook.

INLAND EMPIRE [Medium: Success] — A chill runs down your spine. Who knows what secrets could be hidden in the lieutenant’s private notebook?

ELECTROCHEMISTRY — Maybe lurid ones!

EMPATHY [Easy: Failed] — DEFINITELY lurid ones.

VOLITION [Formidable: Failed] — You have *got* to see what’s in that notebook.

YOU — Looking around nervously, you pick up the notebook.

KIM’S JOURNAL — On the surface, it’s an average journal. Not too large, not too small. The black leather cover is held shut with a thin elastic band.

PERCEPTION [Medium: Success] — The wear suggests that it’s been in use for quite a while. Upwards of six months.

YOU — You start rapidly flipping through the pages.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY — Well? Anything lurid? Any wild escapades? Sex? Wild sex-capades? 

KIM’S JOURNAL — It’s really quite unexciting.The mundanity of everyday life. 

EMPATHY [Challenging: Success] — No mention of the RCM. Probably trying to keep his work separate from his personal life.

YOU — There’s really nothing exciting?

KIM’S JOURNAL — Unless you’re interested in the extensive maintenance the lieutenant has performed on his Kineema.

YOU — But…

LOGIC — But nothing. It’s just an ordinary notebook.

YOU — NO. There has to be something. Speak to me, journal!

INLAND EMPIRE [Godly: Success] — The notebook’s worn leather cover is latticed with cracks. As you watch, they seem to form themselves into a face, the mouth of which creaks open...

KIM’S JOURNAL — What do you want, Officer Du Bois?

YOU — Why am I so convinced that there’s something intriguing written in you?

KIM’S JOURNAL — Because there is, Officer. 

YOU — But when I flipped through you, nothing caught my eye.

KIM’S JOURNAL — You didn’t stop to look past the words. There’s much more written in me than diary entries—there’s *memories.* Beautiful and intangible. Containing more information than could be physically written in a hundred of me.

VOLITION [Challenging: Success] — Wait, what if some of them contain *you*? Are you ready for that?

YOU — I really fucking hope so, because I have to know. Journal, are any of these “memories” about me?

KIM’S JOURNAL — (You swear the journal smiles.) More than you would expect, Officer. The memories you’re looking for would be— 

KIM KITSURAGI — “Harry?”

SAVOIR-FAIRE [Heroic: Failed] — The journal slips out of your hands and lands on the desk loudly.

KIM KITSURAGI — The lieutenant’s eyes narrow. “What were you doing with my journal?”

YOU — “I was communing with it. It was *speaking* to me.”

KIM KITSURAGI — He purses his lips.

COMPOSURE [Formidable: Success] — “Am I really doing this,” he wonders. “Am I really going to share my bed with a man who shows such obvious signs of mental illness.”

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Easy: Success] — Did you notice his sleeping shorts though? They look good on him. Really good. But they’d probably look better off of him, if you catch my drift. You should say that. Right now.

VOLITION [Challenging: Success] — DO NOT say that.

YOU — “I totally didn’t look inside, if that’s what you’re asking. Anyway, can I use your shower?”

KIM KITSURAGI — “...Sure. There should be an extra towel on top of the medicine cabinet.”

COMPOSURE [Medium: Success] — He hasn’t let the journal thing go yet. But he’s happy that you’re bathing.

YOU — “Thanks.” You walk past him into the bathroom and close the door.

…

ROOM #2 SHOWER — The little shower stall is, again, much smaller and cleaner than the one in your room.

YOU — You strip, leaving your clothes on the toilet seat, and step in, turning the water on.

LOGIC [Trivial: Success] — You don’t have any soap. You’ll have to use Kim’s.

YOU — You reach for the small assortment of bottles on the indented shelf and take the one labeled “SHAMPOO.”

PERCEPTION [Easy: Success] — “Lemon-Scented.”

…

YOU — You wash your hair and body, and—to your surprise—you feel much better. 

HEALED MORALE +1

VOLITION — See?

YOU — Just as Kim said, there’s an extra towel on top of the cabinet. You take it and as you dry yourself off, a thought strikes you: what are you going to wear to bed?

VOLITION [Medium: Success] — Nude is NOT the right choice.

DRAMA [Challenging: Success] — Ah, but perhaps nude IS the right choice, milord! The raw power of your naked figure…

AUTHORITY — Anyone who isn’t cop enough to face your naked body doesn’t deserve you.

VOLITION [Heroic: Success] — No, you CANNOT sleep in the nude. It will ruin your chances of having ANYTHING with Kim.

DRAMA — What are we to wear, then?

YOU — You rifle through your bag of assorted things you’ve picked up around town, like the hobocop you are.

DRAMA [Easy: Success] — That one, my liege! That bluest of robes, with the golden dragon embroidery! 

YOU — You hold up the party dragon robe. It *does* look comfortable…

RHETORIC [Challenging: Success] — Wait! A silk robe with dragons on it? Doesn’t that seem… a little culturally insensitive to Seolites?

EMPATHY [Medium: Success] — Kim probably won’t mind. He knows you’re in a bit of a pinch, clothes-wise.

YOU — You wrap yourself in the party dragon robe. Not only does it *look* comfortable, it *is* comfortable!

… 

KIM KITSURAGI — Kim is writing in his journal, but he sets it down when you exit the bathroom.

YOU — What did he write? It HAS to be about me this time.

KIM’S JOURNAL — Wouldn’t you like to know, Officer Du Bois…

KIM KITSURAGI — Kim’s eyes flick between the robe and your face, but he doesn’t say anything.

COMPOSURE [Medium: Success] — It’s not his favorite article of clothing out of everything you’ve picked up off the street, but at least you’re not naked.

KIM KITSURAGI — “Well, shall we…?” He gestures awkwardly towards the bed.

COMPOSURE [Easy: Success] — It’s been a long time since either of you had anything like this.

ESPIRIT DE CORPS [Challenging: Success] — Somewhere far from here, Officers Minot and Vicquemare are talking over a few drinks. Minot’s just been dumped, and Viquemare consoles her, telling her that it’s *hard* for cops to maintain a relationship, that she probably didn’t do anything wrong, it’s just the stress…

YOU — You and Kim walk over to the bed.

VISUAL CALCULUS [Trivial: Success] — This bed was *not* made for two people. It’ll be a tight fit.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Easy: Success] — The tighter the better, baby!

VOLITION [Medium: Success] — Stop it. You’re not going to have sex.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY — ...Not YET.

KIM KITSURAGI — Kim climbs into the bed. He takes off his glasses and carefully sets them by the window.

YOU — You join him, pausing only to turn out the lights.

…

YOU — Just as you expected, it’s a tight fit. If the bed was any smaller, Kim would literally be on top of you.

ELECTROCHEMISTRY — Hell yeah he would!

VOLITION — SHUT. UP.

YOU — After a few minutes of awkward wriggling, you manage to find a comfortable sleeping position.

KIM KITSURAGI — Kim’s head is resting on your shoulder, his hand on your chest.

YOU — You tentatively put an arm around him.

KIM KITSURAGI — He doesn’t object.

PERCEPTION [Medium: Success] — It seems like he even relaxes a bit. 

YOU — You do your best to sync your breathing with his. In, out. In, out. In, out. In…

…  
ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN — Harry. Harry-boy. When I told you to forget about that vile, apricot-scented creature, this is NOT what I meant.

LIMBIC SYSTEM — Oh Harry, oh, oh, oh… What were you thinking, Harry? What were you THINKING?

YOU — I like Kim.

AUTHORITY — He respects us.

EMPATHY — He cares about us.

PERCEPTION — And he smells nice!

ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN — Yes… Smell him, taste him, touch him… Soon enough, it’ll all be gone. And you’ll be back here, in the land of nothingness and fuck-all.

YOU — What do you mean it’ll all be gone?

LIMBIC SYSTEM — Because you ruin everything you touch, Harry. You great, filthy beast, you.

ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN — You’ll drive him away, funky-baby. You’ll be too much, and one day he’ll just leave. And then, later… That will be it, the worst day of all time.

LIMBIC SYSTEM — Crawling, sniveling, squirming back to us, drowning in liquor, but it won’t be enough, Harry…

ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN — They’ll both get a call about it, and she might even be able to move on. But he won’t. Even with all the fucked-up, grotesque *shit* he’s seen, he’ll never be able to forget it. The Marvelous Harry Du Bois, immortalized forever in his brain… will you be happy then?

YOU — No, let me go.

LIMBIC SYSTEM — Oh… Do you feel him, Harry? Hear the noises he makes as he sleeps? Now, now, don’t hold him too close, or you’ll *break* him. You animal. You disgusting facsimile of a man…

…

YOU — You jolt awake, hitting your head on the headboard.

PERCEPTION [Trivial: Success] — Not morning yet. No sun shines through the curtains.

COMPOSURE [Godly: Failure] — As you remember your dream, your eyes start to water. You pull away from Kim and sit on the edge of the bed as you begin to sob in earnest.

VOLITION [Impossible: Failure] — No point in trying to stop. It’s fucked. Everything’s fucked. Why did you even think you had a chance at something nice?

PAIN THRESHOLD [Easy: Failure] — Plus, hitting your head on the headboard *really* hurt.

KIM KITSURAGI — “Are you alright?” 

PERCEPTION [Easy: Success] — He sounds half-awake. You probably woke him up with your spasming and crying.

YOU — You manage to stop crying long enough to choke out a “No.”

KIM KITSURAGI — He puts a hand on your shoulder.

EMPATHY [Trivial: Success] — He’s worried. Really, genuinely worried. You were doing so well, and now…

COMPOSURE [Godly: Failure] — Oh god, oh god, oh god, you’re crying *harder.* How is it possible to cry this hard.

YOU — “I’ll ruin everything… You’ll just leave like everyone else does.”

KIM KITSURAGI — “...”

EMPATHY [Challenging: Failed] — Why isn’t he saying anything? He hates you. He’s disgusted. Oh god…

PERCEPTION [Trivial: Success] — But wait—his hand is still on your shoulder...

KIM KITSURAGI — ...and now his other hand is at the back of your head, guiding it to rest against his shoulder…

INLAND EMPIRE [Medium: Success] — He’s so warm, so *alive*... This is it. This is *exactly* what you needed so desperately. Never let him go. Never ever ever ever.

VOLITION [Challenging: Success] — If you *have* to indulge in anything, it should be this.

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] — Moonlight is shining through the gap in the curtains, highlighting Kim’s profile. Forget Dolores Dei, *this* is what should be immortalized in stained glass.

INLAND EMPIRE [Godly: Success] — HE WILL BE THE ONE THAT SAVES YOU.

YOU — Thoughts are pouring into your head so fast that you forget to cry.

KIM KITSURAGI — The lieutenant shifts so that the two of you can rest against the pillows and the headboard.

EMPATHY [Legendary: Success] — Maybe, just maybe, he won’t leave you.

PERCEPTION [Easy: Success] — You can hear his heartbeat.

INLAND EMPIRE — IT’S THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SOUND.

YOU — “Kim, I… I think I might love you.”

PERCEPTION [Medium: Success] — His heartbeat just sped up ever so slightly.

KIM KITSURAGI — “Goodnight, Harry.”

EMPATHY [Godly: Success] — He won’t say it yet, but he feels it too. He thinks that maybe

he just might

love you back.

**Author's Note:**

> it's all about the tenderness uuuuuu  
> also AU where room#2 has its own bathroom because i just wasn't paying attention while writing i guess???


End file.
